President Biden called Vladimir Putin earlier this week and challenged him over Russia’s malign global activity. The rebuke won’t work. The Russian leader respects only actions, not words. This is why Biden should immediately sanction at least four individuals that Russian investigative journalist Alexei Navalny has identified as key Putin facilitators.
Navalny is now languishing in a Moscow prison on trumped-up charges, five months after Putin’s FSB intelligence service attempted to assassinate him with a Novichok-class nerve agent. Navalny’s courageous stance for human freedom and his decision to return to Russia at very significant risk to his own life should inspire Biden to action. What Putin is doing to Navalny is a direct extension of what Putin is doing to the United States and our allies: attacking the basic foundations of the post-Second World War international order.
That brings us back to the sanctions. The four priority targets should be Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov, Andrey Kostin, and Dmitry Patrushev. By targeting the assets of these kleptocrats, Biden would alter Putin’s cost-benefit analysis for his malevolent behavior.
Abramovich is a top Russian financier who provides hidden wealth for Putin’s private pet projects (including Putin’s “palace” on the Black Sea). Usmanov is a senior Russian mafia figure and financier through whom Putin exerts influence in Europe and Central Asia. Kostin is the head of Russia’s VTB Bank, the central financial house where Putin’s inner circle and security service allies launder their money. Patrushev, the son of Putin’s national security council chairman Nikolai Patrushev, is agriculture minister, a former VTB executive, and a member of Gazprom’s board. (His brother is also a senior executive at Gazprom. This Gazprom connection to Putin’s most trusted security adviser should tell you everything you need to know about the way in which Team Putin regards Gazprom’s Nord Stream II energy pipeline. Namely, as a physical extension of Russia’s security strategy.
Put simply, these individuals provide Putin both with hidden wealth and conduits to reward or rebuke others. They are the cornerstones of Putin’s political dominion. Were Biden to sanction these individuals, some of whom are already listed for possible sanctions, he would send a clear and early signal that Putin’s aggression will carry costs.
Such action would encourage allies to do the same. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for example, is eager to build a smooth relationship with Biden, fearing that otherwise, Biden might realign Washington closer to Europe at Britain’s expense. Johnson would find it hard to ignore U.S. sanctions on Abramovich and Usmanov in particular. Those two oligarchs retain very significant business presences in Britain, spending much of their time there. Soccer is a particular favorite of both men. Abramovich owns Chelsea soccer club and lives in London; Usmanov formerly owned Arsenal and is now an investor in Everton.
But the British sanctions won’t come unless Biden leads. A member of the opposition Labour Party elucidates as much this week. Questioning a Conservative minister in Parliament, Ben Bradshaw asked why the government had failed to introduce recommendations in a Parliament intelligence committee report on malign Kremlin influence.
Bradshaw also asked why it had not sanctioned powerful oligarchs close to Putin. Is it because, he asked, “London is awash with dirty Russian money, as is the Conservative Party?” While the minister said she did “not accept” this suggestion, Bradshaw is absolutely correct. Even if Labour’s former leader was a Putin dream, the Conservative Party has acted as a laundry machine for illicit Russian finances. Russia’s SVR intelligence service has facilitated these efforts, gaining quite extraordinary access to the literal centers of British political power. This has to change, and now’s the time for Biden to push that change forward. Bradshaw told me that “it’s vital that now we have a president in the White House who takes the threat from the Kremlin seriously, that the U.K. government stops turning a blind eye to Putin’s activities in Britain.”
When it comes to countering Putin, words are cheap. Actions matter. Mr. Biden, tear down these Putin enablers.
